Crime down in Lincolnshire but rise in sexual offences

Jeremy Ransome

Lincolnshire Police say that crime in the county has reduced year on year but sexual offences are on the up.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Gibson says he is pleased that overall recorded crime in Lincolnshire has continued to reduce and that the rise in sexual offences is as a result of national publicity about historical sex abuse encouraging people to come forward.

“Overall crime is down by one per cent in the year to September 2015, which bucks the general national trend of increases,” he says.

“Our countywide Operation Nova (say NO to Violence and Abuse) is specifically targeting violent crime and we are confident that our multi-agency efforts in this area will result in returning to a reducing trend for the next period of reporting from the nine per cent increase reported today,” said Mr Gibson. “However, it is important to emphasise that Lincolnshire has one of the lowest recorded rates of violent crime in the country.”

Mr Gibson says that like most forces Lincolnshire is experiencing an increase in reported sexual offences. “A large proportion of this is as a result of the widespread and national publicity about historical sex abuse which is encouraging people to report such crimes more readily than they would have done before,” he says.

“We have already made announcements that we are changing our policing model to put more resources into protecting vulnerable people, which includes further investment in child sexual exploitation, on-line grooming, cyber-crime and other emerging crime areas.”

He also welcomed reductions in theft and house burglary. “The reductions in these offences have contributed to the overall reduction in recorded crime in Lincolnshire.”